The First Amendment Project has announced that its Executive Director and Staff Counsel David Greene has accepted a position with the San Francisco office of law firm Holme, Roberts & Owen, effective August 1. Mr. Greene will be a Senior Counsel at the firm and work in the firm’s Media, Entertainment and Advertising practice group. “David is one of the finest First Amendment lawyers in the country,” said FAP Chairman Clinton Fein. “We’re thrilled for him and the new opportunity this gives him to continue to advance the causes that he has led throughout his career, for freedom of expression and information, and to work for the journalistic and artistic communities.” Mr. Greene has been with the organization as staff counsel and Executive Director since 1999.

The First Amendment Project is a non-profit organization that provides legal advice and representation for journalists, activists and artists. Its website calls it “the only nonprofit organization in the country dedicated to providing free legal representation exclusively on free speech and free press issues.”

Founded in 1991, it specializes in Freedom of Information, Public Records, open government, artistic and advocacy expression and defense of what are known as “SLAPP suits,” or lawsuits filed against people for speaking out on matters of public interest. FAP and Greene have received numerous local and national awards for their legal advocacy.

Greene will continue to play a major role with the FAP. He will remain as Executive Director on a volunteer basis while FAP undergoes a planning process for his successor. Greene will also continue his involvement in FAP’s caseload, as several clients are expected to ask the HRO firm to join as co-counsel in cases he has worked on at FAP. Discussions regarding for which clients and cases HRO will serve as co-counsel are ongoing. FAP Founder and Senior Counsel James Wheaton, assisted by Law Fellow Lowell Chow, will continue to oversee all of FAP’s cases, regardless of whether HRO joins as co-counsel.

“This continues to be a vital time for First Amendment rights,” said Fein,” and FAP’s work will go on.” Fein noted that although the organization will begin looking for a new Executive Director, “it will also take this occasion in its 20th anniversary year to step back, survey the landscape for what FAP has done well, new freedom of expression challenges emerging as a result of rapidly developing telecommunications technologies, where FAP could expand its services and how it can best continue to serve its constituent groups. We’ll take the next few months to invite all of FAP’s supporters and constituencies to think and give us feedback on how we can best position FAP for the next two decades.”

Get first-hand litigation experience while defending the First Amendment

First Amendment Project is seeking 1L or 2L students to assist with its public interest free speech and free press litigation and educational efforts. FAP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the fundamental civil liberties of freedom of speech, of the press and to petition the government for a redress of grievances to its core constituency of activists, journalists and artists.

FAP provides free or low cost legal services in three primary areas. The First Amendment Project:

Represents clients seeking to enforce freedom of information laws.

Defends those who are sued for exercising their First Amendment rights (commonly known as strategic lawsuits against public participation or SLAPP suits).

Files civil rights lawsuits on behalf of those whose First Amendment rights have been violated by governmental practice or policy.

As a small organization, FAP relies heavily on our legal interns to assist us in litigation. Positions are unpaid, but interns receive invaluable litigation experience and one-on-one contact with experienced First Amendment lawyers. FAP interns have in the past qualified for PILF and other nonprofit internship funding programs.

E-mail, fax or mail a cover letter explaining your interest in First Amendment Project and a resume to:

The auction is a benefit for First Amendment Project, the Oakland, CA-based nonprofit organization that provides free legal services on public interest free speech and free press issues.

In addition to the character name, the winning bidder in the “Weeds” auction will receive a signed copy of the pilot script, the box set of DVDs of the first five seasons of the series and a “Weeds” baseball cap.

Among the other opportunities available at the auction, which can be found at http://3.ly/fapauction include the chance to be an FBI agent or a stripper with a heart of gold in the next entry in Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooters series; a villain or a victim in Thomas Perry’s next entry in the Jane Whitefield series, a wounded World War I soldier or drunken Bohemian in Andrew Sean Greer’s next novel, as a character in a new musical by Janet Burroway, or a character in a cartoon series by Ben Katchor, Chris Ware or T Campbell. Young adult authors Dan Gutman and Kevin J. Anderson are offering character names in the next entries in their Baseball Card Adventures and Star Challengers series, respectively.

This is the third character name auction for First Amendment Project. The first two auctions, held in 2005 and 2006, earned over $170,000 for the organization.

The authors speak:

“First Amendment issues are centrally important to anyone who writes for a living! I have struggled a little bit with censorship issues as regards my own work, and I have seen it with others. The First Amendment Project is one of the premier organizations for combating this censorship, and the auctions are a clever and funny way to drum up support for the work.” —Rick Moody

“There’s nothing more dangerous to freedom than silence — whether it’s enforced by law or fear or poverty — or crushing legal expenses. The First Amendment Project helps give voice to those who otherwise might be silenced, and I’m proud to stand beside them. As a writer, I know the true strength and importance of words. Words are more powerful than any weapon because as long as we can write and speak freely, ideas like freedom and justice will never die.” —Suzanne Brockmann

“As a science fiction writer, I like to push ideas, stretch my imagination, provoke people to think along new paths. That frightens others who like to believe they have the [only] way. Unfortunately, some of those people are in positions of power and try to enforce their opinions as law. We need staunch groups to stand up against those agendas and let people have their say. It’s the only way the truth can keep getting out.” —Kevin J. Anderson

“Everything I do — everything this country is about — depends on the First Amendment.” —Francine Prose

“All I can really say is: I would not exist as a writer without the First Amendment. Period.” —Stacey D’Erasmo

“The First Amendment protects the most basic and important of our freedoms, the right to think freely and express our thoughts and beliefs to others by speech, press, petition, or assembly. Deserving the First Amendment requires that we use it and defend it.” —Thomas Perry

“I feel lucky to live in a country that allows me to read, talk and write freely. The First Amendment is what makes that possible. Almost every week an event somewhere in the world reminds me not to take this precious right for granted” —Margot Livesey

“It’s not hyperbole to say that it’s the best amendment in the history of civilization.” —Elinor Lipman

Conducting the charity auction is Auction Cause, a premier online auction management agency specializing in high impact and high value eBay charity auctions for nonprofits and their corporate partners. Auction Cause also conducted the 2005 and 2006 auction

As the only nonprofit provider of free and low-cost public interest First Amendment legal services in the country, First Amendment Project is often a last line of defense for its clients. Still, some cases throw the need for FAP’s services into especially stark relief.

Several months ago, FAP received a call from a severely physically disabled woman in a government-run long-term care facility. She had no assets whatsoever and no one to whom she could turn. A year prior, she had alleged to government hospital and law enforcement personnel that a nursing assistant responsible for her care had sexually assaulted her. The nursing assistant was investigated and his employment terminated. Just before the statute of limitations ran out, the nursing assistant sued the woman for defamation.

FAP filed an anti-SLAPP motion on the woman’s behalf on the basis that her statements to law enforcement and hospital officials were absolutely privileged under California law.

Last week the Court agreed, granted the motion and dismissed the case.

On Friday, June 18, an Alameda County Superior Court judge quashed an illegal search warrant issued for the unpublished news photographs of veteran photojournalist David Morse. The court also ordered the return of all of Morse’s photographs, including any copies made by the University. The court also ordered the University to declare under oath what agencies received copies of the photographs, if any.

Morse has covered hundreds of demonstrations and other events since 2002. He was arrested and his camera searched in connection with a protest he was covering at UC Berkeley on December 11, 2009. The charges were dropped at Morse’s first court appearance, but not before a search warrant had issued for his unpublished photographs. The California Penal Code prohibits the issuance of search warrants for unpublished journalistic materials.

Although the UCPD police report more than once referenced Morse’s repeated assertions that he was a journalist, officers omitted this crucial fact in the sworn affidavit they filed with the court in support of the search warrant. Thus the judge who issued the search warrant had no indication that Morse was reporting for a news organization at the protest.

The Alameda County District Attorney did not oppose Morse’s motion and indicated that no criminal investigation is pending. The University opposed the motion, arguing that it had an interest in using the photographs to investigate students for disciplinary purposes. The University also argued that it could continue using copies of Morse’s photographs even if the warrant was deemed illegal.

California, like many states, has a law that prevents search warrants being issued against journalists. These laws were mostly passed in the wake of a 1978 Supreme Court opinion in which the Court found that the First Amendment does not prevent a search warrant from being executed against a journalist, states were free to grant journalists such right by statute. The federal government passed its own version of the law as well, the Privacy Protection Act of 1980.

Why offer journalists this protection? The answer is simple: Journalists cannot do their job of informing the public if those who they are covering believe that the journalist is gathering information that will be readily available to law enforcement.

In December of 2009, David Morse, a respected and veteran independent photojournalist was arrested while covering the student protests at the Chancellor’s House on the UC Berkeley campus. The details of his arrest are a story in its own — perhaps we’ll cover that in a future email update — but what is most important now is that as he was being detained and ultimately arrested, he identified himself as a journalist to the UC police officers no less than 6 times, repeatedly offered to show his press credentials and did after several hours get a commanding officer to look at his press credential. Nevertheless, Morse was arrested and his camera was seized as evidence pursuant to his arrest.

The charges against Morse were ultimately dropped. But while he was still in custody, the police obtained a search warrant that enabled them to view the photographs on his memory cards.

The search warrant affidavit — which is essentially the application for the warrant the police present to the judge — made no mention of Morse being or even claiming to be a journalist.

First Amendment Project is representing Morse. Just last Friday, we filed on Morse’s behalf a motion to quash the search warrant and have Morse’s memory cards and photographs returned to him. A hearing is scheduled for May 11.

Get first-hand litigation experience while defending the First Amendment

First Amendment Project is seeking 1L or 2L students to assist with its public interest free speech and free press litigation and educational efforts. FAP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the fundamental civil liberties of freedom of speech, of the press and to petition the government for a redress of grievances to its core constituency of activists, journalists and artists.

FAP provides free or low cost legal services in three primary areas. The First Amendment Project:

Represents clients seeking to enforce freedom of information laws.

Defends those who are sued for exercising their First Amendment rights (commonly known as strategic lawsuits against public participation or SLAPP suits).

Files civil rights lawsuits on behalf of those whose First Amendment rights have been violated by governmental practice or policy.

As a small organization, FAP relies heavily on our legal interns to assist us in litigation. Positions are unpaid, but interns receive invaluable litigation experience and one-on-one contact with experienced First Amendment lawyers. FAP interns have in the past qualified for PILF and other nonprofit internship funding programs.

E-mail, fax or mail a cover letter explaining your interest in First Amendment Project and a resume to:

FAP represented the sponsor of a traffic safety initiative who was sued by his local government as he tried to gather enough signatures to have the initiative placed on the ballot.

FAP represented a local environmental activist who was sued for slander by a commercial landlord for a quote in a newspaper article about a controversy over the eviction of an environmental justice nonprofit.

FAP represented a campaign pamphleteer and helped him defeat a lawsuit that tried to prevent him from handing out flyers about a candidate in the days leading up to the election.

FAP advised the producers of the documentary “Citizen McCaw” and helped them respond to threats of litigation from the subjects of the film.

FAP represented a woman who was sued by her former surgeon after she reported his misconduct to the state medical board.

FAP defended a lawsuit against a woman by her condominium’s management company after she created a website and shared information about the mismanagement of the building.

FAP represented Katherine Lopez, an elected member of Barrio Logan Community Planning Group, an organization created by the City of San Diego to offer community input in all decisions of the San Diego Planning Department. Ms. Lopez was sued for defamation after sending an email urging members of her community to testify before the community planning group if they had any concerns about the way the developer of a proposed residential complex treated his existing tenants. In her email she related some of the concerns that had already been reported to her, including alleged threats to undocumented tenants. Ms. Lopez’s conduct in encouraging others to participate in the community planning group process was classic petitioning conduct protected by both the First Amendment and California Civil Code 47. FAP obtained a voluntary dismissal of the lawsuit after informing plaintiff’s counsel that an anti-SLAPP motion would be immediately forthcoming.

FAP released its new publication, An Environmental Advocate’s Guide to Avoiding Publication Liability. The guide, written in response to a disturbing trend of environmental advocacy organizations being sued for reports on their websites and in newsletters, provides an overview of defamation and privacy law and a set of best practices for avoiding liability. The guide may be downloaded from the FAP website. Printed copies may be ordered directly from FAP.

And we’ve been busy planning FAP’s first ever charity auction. Sixteen of our this country’s most acclaimed authors have banded together to raise money for FAP by auctioning the naming rights to a character or place in their next works. Participants include FAP Advisory Board member Michael Chabon, Stephen King, John Grisham, Nora Roberts, Amy Tan and Lemony Snicket’s Daniel Handler. The auction will take place over several weeks in August. Check out www.ebay.com/fap for more information.

And be sure to check out First, FAP’s new Free Speech blog on the FAP website for current commentary on pressing First Amendment issues.

First Amendment Project needs your support so that we can continue to offer free legal and educational services to activist, journalists and artists who rights to freedom of speech and the press, to petition the government, and of information. Please consider a donation today.

Upholding the First Amendment right to petition the government for redress of grievances, a federal district judge Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed against a Big Bear Lake environmental activist by a San Diego-based developer. Sandy Steers, a resident of the community of Fawnskin, had been sued by Marina Point Development Associates under the federal Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, a law designed to root out mob activities. Marina Point claimed that Ms. Steers conspired with officials of the U.S. Forest Service to “derail” the project by urging various governmental agencies to enforce laws to protect bald eagles in the area.

First Amendment Project, in conjunction with the UCLA Environmental Law Clinic, represented Steers pro bono and persuaded the court that Steers’s activities were petitioning and speech activities protected by the First Amendment for which she could not be sued. Judge Manuel Real agreed and dismissed the action against her and forbidding the developer to re-file a similar lawsuit against Steers.

This is a significant victory not just for the activists in Fawnskin but for all those who want to be active participants in our democracy and advocate for the things that are important to them.

Now, First Amendment Project needs your help. We provided Sandy Steers with over $100,000 in free legal services. But without your support now we will not be able to continue to offer legal services to people like Sandy Steers or any of the other activists, journalists or artists we have assisted over the past 12 years. We are in serious danger of closing if we cannot raise funds from people who care about freedom of speech and of the press. Please help us keep our doors open.